Lale Gül (

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, 3 November, 1997) is a Dutch writer of Turkish descent. Gül was raised in a strict Islamic-religious family in Amsterdam-West. During the week she would attend regular school, and during the weekend she would visit an

Islamic school Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

in the Milli Görüş community. She studies Dutch literature at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. In 2021 she published and gained national attention with her autobiographical debut novel ''Ik ga leven'' (English: I'm going to live) in which she critically and humorously distances herself from her strict religious upbringing. After publication, she was threatened by people from the Dutch-Islamic community. Also within her own family, the book was not well received. Although she initially indicated to remain living at her parental home, she decided shortly after that this was no longer an option. She was awarded the NS Publieksprijs for the novel in November 2021.

References

1997 births Living people Dutch women writers Former Muslim critics of Islam Dutch former Sunni Muslims Dutch critics of Islam Dutch people of Turkish descent {{Netherlands-writer-stub